diff --git a/source/memtrace.c b/source/memtrace.c
index fbdcf86df..ee1f291d7 100644
--- a/source/memtrace.c
+++ b/source/memtrace.c
@@ -131,29 +131,43 @@ static void s_alloc_tracer_track(struct alloc_tracer *tracer, void *ptr, size_t
     aws_high_res_clock_get_ticks(&alloc->time);
 
     if (tracer->level == AWS_MEMTRACE_STACKS) {
-        /* capture stack frames, skip 2 for this function and the allocation vtable function */
+        /* capture stack frames,
+         * skip 2 for this function and the allocation vtable function if we have a full stack trace
+         * and otherwise just capture what ever stack trace we got
+         */
         AWS_VARIABLE_LENGTH_ARRAY(void *, stack_frames, (FRAMES_TO_SKIP + tracer->frames_per_stack));
         size_t stack_depth = aws_backtrace(stack_frames, FRAMES_TO_SKIP + tracer->frames_per_stack);
-        if (stack_depth >= FRAMES_TO_SKIP) {
-            /* hash the stack pointers */
-            struct aws_byte_cursor stack_cursor =
-                aws_byte_cursor_from_array(stack_frames, stack_depth * sizeof(void *));
-            uint64_t stack_id = aws_hash_byte_cursor_ptr(&stack_cursor);
-            alloc->stack = stack_id; /* associate the stack with the alloc */
-
-            aws_mutex_lock(&tracer->mutex);
-            struct aws_hash_element *item = NULL;
-            int was_created = 0;
-            AWS_FATAL_ASSERT(
-                AWS_OP_SUCCESS ==
-                aws_hash_table_create(&tracer->stacks, (void *)(uintptr_t)stack_id, &item, &was_created));
-            /* If this is a new stack, save it to the hash */
-            if (was_created) {
-                struct stack_trace *stack = aws_mem_calloc(
-                    aws_default_allocator(),
-                    1,
-                    sizeof(struct stack_trace) + (sizeof(void *) * tracer->frames_per_stack));
-                AWS_FATAL_ASSERT(stack);
+        AWS_FATAL_ASSERT(stack_depth > 0);
+
+        /* hash the stack pointers */
+        struct aws_byte_cursor stack_cursor = aws_byte_cursor_from_array(stack_frames, stack_depth * sizeof(void *));
+        uint64_t stack_id = aws_hash_byte_cursor_ptr(&stack_cursor);
+        alloc->stack = stack_id; /* associate the stack with the alloc */
+
+        aws_mutex_lock(&tracer->mutex);
+        struct aws_hash_element *item = NULL;
+        int was_created = 0;
+        AWS_FATAL_ASSERT(
+            AWS_OP_SUCCESS == aws_hash_table_create(&tracer->stacks, (void *)(uintptr_t)stack_id, &item, &was_created));
+        /* If this is a new stack, save it to the hash */
+        if (was_created) {
+            struct stack_trace *stack = aws_mem_calloc(
+                aws_default_allocator(), 1, sizeof(struct stack_trace) + (sizeof(void *) * tracer->frames_per_stack));
+            AWS_FATAL_ASSERT(stack);
+            /**
+             * Optimizations can affect the number of frames we get and in pathological cases we can
+             * get fewer than FRAMES_TO_SKIP frames, but always at least 1 because code has to start somewhere.
+             * (looking at you gcc with -O3 on aarch64)
+             * With optimizations on we cannot trust the stack trace too much.
+             * Memtracer makes an assumption that stack trace will be available in all cases if stack trace api
+             * works. So in the pathological case of stack_depth <= FRAMES_TO_SKIP lets record all the frames we
+             * have, to at least have an anchor for where allocation is comming from, however inaccurate it is.
+             */
+            if (stack_depth <= FRAMES_TO_SKIP) {
+                memcpy((void **)&stack->frames[0], &stack_frames[0], (stack_depth) * sizeof(void *));
+                stack->depth = stack_depth;
+                item->value = stack;
+            } else {
                 memcpy(
                     (void **)&stack->frames[0],
                     &stack_frames[FRAMES_TO_SKIP],
@@ -161,8 +175,9 @@ static void s_alloc_tracer_track(struct alloc_tracer *tracer, void *ptr, size_t
                 stack->depth = stack_depth - FRAMES_TO_SKIP;
                 item->value = stack;
             }
-            aws_mutex_unlock(&tracer->mutex);
         }
+
+        aws_mutex_unlock(&tracer->mutex);
     }
 
     aws_mutex_lock(&tracer->mutex);